


The First Date

by rainystreetlights



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: 6th year, Awkward First Times, Awkward Flirting, Cinnamon Roll Scorpius and Albus, Cuddling & Snuggling, First Kiss, Fluff, I just love them a lot and i want them to have thousands of awkward conversations, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-08-12 07:24:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7925836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainystreetlights/pseuds/rainystreetlights
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Still under the impression that you should have been the first to get a girlfriend eh? What can I say… Ladies love me"<br/>"Ladies tolerate you"</p><p>One-Shot set in Albus and Scorpius' sixth year at Hogwarts. When Rose doesn't show up, Albus and Scorpius end up going on an accidental first date.Pure Scorpius and Albus fluff.  Awkward conversations and a lot of strange situations. </p><p>Written for the Scorbus Network's first challenge!  Details can be found at scorrbus.tumblr.com</p>
            </blockquote>





	The First Date

**Author's Note:**

> EDIT: The lovely Autumn has helped me immensely by proof-reading this fic! This is First Date 2.0 with new and improved spelling, grammar and sentence structure. Autumn is an absolute saint for doing this and you can find her at autumnhearthfire.tumblr.com 
> 
> Also I have read every single one of your comments and even printed some out to stick in various notebooks for motivation. You've all been so kind and I can't thank you guys enough for the love and encouragement i've received so far <3 it means the world and a half to me

“Merlin’s sparkly pants I’m nervous,” Scorpius mumbled to himself as he and Albus trudged through the freshly fallen snow towards Hogsmeade Village.  
  
Albus watched as Scorpius picked fluff from his long and very expensive Madam Malkins coat. He then adjusted his scarf, faffed with his hair and checked his breath before returning to the coat again. Scorpius was doing what Albus had coined as his ‘worry dance’ which was only brought out for particularly stressful occasions. He’d feel bad if it wasn’t extremely funny to watch.  
  
"I don't know why you're making such an effort," Albus said, grinning. "Rose agreed to this date after nearly a year of pestering. You once asked her out while you were covered in slime."  
  
"It was not 'slime', Albus," Scorpius huffed. "It was flobberworm mucus and it wouldn't have been on me in the first place if you'd have watched what you were doing in potions. Anyway, Rose Granger-Weasley asked ME, Scorpius Malfoy, on a date-"  
  
"After you practically begged her to," mumbled Albus.  
  
He was heavily ignored in favor of Scorpius regaling him with his favourite story.  
  
"By owling me this note," he sighed dreamily pulling out a piece of gold and red trimmed parchment. "Puddifoots. Saturday. 12pm sharp. RGW." He beamed at Albus, who gave him a pitying look. "Pity is a start remember!" Scorpius exclaimed, stuffing the parchment back in his pocket. "I've never been to Puddifoots. What's it like?"  
  
Albus raised his eyebrows and watched a gaggle of third years run excitedly into The Three Broomsticks.  
  
"Dad says its rubbish," he muttered, pulling his scarf up to shield his nose from the cold. "It's stuffy and pink and smells like old lady perfume. I think it's been open as long as Hogwarts has."  
  
"You're just a cynic," Scorpius teased, bumping Albus' shoulder with his own. "You're not in luuuuuurve, so all of this romantic stuff is lost on you."  
  
"Hmmm probably," Albus sighed as he eyed Scorpius suspiciously. “‘Luurrrve’,” he mumbled sarcastically to himself, beneath his scarf, so Scorpius couldn’t hear.  
  
"Still under the impression that you should have been the first to get a girlfriend, eh? What can I say… ladies love me," Scorpius teased, shooting double gun fingers at Albus. They stopped in front of Madam Puddifoots and Albus gave Scorpius another tired look.  
  
"Ladies tolerate you," he quipped with a cheeky grin. Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Do you want me to wait with you until she arrives?" Albus asked.  
  
Scorpius looked around. Rose was nowhere to be seen, although the snow in Hogsmeade was falling faster than before.  
  
"Um... If that's okay?" Scorpius asked looking cautiously around.  
  
"Of course it is," Albus said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "I mean, I'd only be freezing my arse off somewhere else alone anyway," he said with a slightly bitter tone.  
  
Scorpius wasn’t listening and instead, was checking his watch with a look of deep concern.  
  
“She’ll be here,” Albus soothed. Scorpius looked up with a wary smile. “Anyway, now you have time to tell me all the answers to Professor Binns’ homework assignment.”  
   
***  
  
Ten minutes passed and Albus still couldn’t get any of the History of Magic answers from Scorpius. After the twenty minute mark however, Scorpius gave in to the pestering and hastily scribbled a list of dates Albus needed to remember and books he should read. It had now been half an hour and both boys were turning a very unattractive shade of blue in the mounting blizzard. Rose was nowhere to be seen and Scorpius was growing more disheartened by the minute.  
  
"It's 12:32" he mumbled. Albus found himself resting his head on Scorpius' shoulder as he watched the other students hurry by. "Twelve sharp she said. I was as sharp as I could be. Sharp like a really, really sharp thing..."    
  
"A knife," Albus said with chattering teeth.  
  
"Yeah. Yeah, sharp as a knife," Scorpius said defeated. Albus' head suddenly shot up with realisation.  
  
"Scorp... This is really daft but... well, she isn't inside Puddifoots is she?" Scorpius face dropped suddenly.  
  
"I must have doxy droppings for brains!” he yelled making Albus jump. “She's inside! She must be! Oh my goodness, I’m in heaps of trouble if she is… Come on!" he squealed leading them both inside.  
  
Ascending the stairs at a rapid pace, Albus only had time to cast a warming charm over his snow coated shoulders before they'd reached the inside of the cramped little tea shop. All of a sudden, Scorpius stopped sharply in front of a small, doily covered reception table causing Albus to crash into him.  
  
“Sorry,” he said as he detached himself from Scorpius’ expensive coat, but he got no reply. Looking around the busy tea room, he soon became very aware of Rose’s absence. She hadn't been waiting for Scorpius inside either. He looked to his best friend, who was staring at the floor with a face as red as a beetroot.  
  
"Hello dear, can I help you?" asked a plump old witch, who had suddenly appeared behind the desk. She had curly pastel blue hair and a garish floral pinafore, that matched the pattern of the wallpaper surrounding them. Scorpius looked up at her and began to stammer. He was two seconds from a nervous breakdown and Albus wasn't ready to let that happen. Without a second thought he quickly lurched forwards, as though he were saving Scorpius from a bullet.  
  
"Yes! Hello! I think you've got a reservation for us," Albus said boldly. Scorpius stared at him as though he'd grown a second head.  
  
"What's your name dear?" asked the lady, who produced a pink clipboard from thin air and began scratching at it with a large white quill.  
  
"Rose," Albus said firmly. The old witch blinked at him for a second, eyed him, and scratched away at the clipboard.  
  
"Very well,” she sighed, as though she’d heard it all before. "I assume this is Scorpius. You’re late,” she huffed. Albus shrugged as Scorpius just gaped.  
  
“Sorry, we were caught in the snow,” he lied, as Scorpius’ eyes darted between Albus and the old, blue haired witch, that smelt of cake.  
  
“Your table is the empty one, by the window. I think you can seat yourselves," she said dismissively.  
  
With a wave of her wand, their coats and bags wriggled themselves off the boys shoulders and drifted neatly over to the coat pegs on the wall. Albus and Scorpius found their seats and after a few more seconds of Scorpius’ gaze boring into him, Albus caved.  
  
"What?" he whispered, as the couples and visiting parents around them filled the room with soft chattering. Scorpius blinked a few times bemusedly.  
  
"What do you mean, what?" he replied snappily, in a stage whisper. "You've just told that old lady you're my date. My date called Rose".  
  
"I panicked," Albus huffed. "Anyway, I'll just wait with you inside until she gets here. It's cold out there."  
  
"What will Rose think when she arrives?" Scorpius sighed, resting his head on the window and staring glumly out at the snow.  
  
"She'll think, 'Oops I should have arrived sooner looks like this seat is taken', although I doubt it when I'm done with her," Albus said darkly. "At this rate she’s getting a bat bogey hex for dinner and a dung bomb in her dormitory for desert. Nobody stands my best friend up and gets away with it."  
  
Scorpius' grey eyes were drawn to his and a flicker of a smile flashed on his face.  
  
"I've not been stood up," he mumbled.  
  
"No. You haven't," Albus agreed, picking up a doily off the table and placing it on his wild black hair, "because, 'Hello Scorpius, I'm Rosie and golly gosh, I'm awfully excited for our date!'"  
  
Scorpius let out an unexpected bark of laughter, disrupting the snogging couple at the table next to them. Albus quietly decorated himself with a flower from the vase in the middle of the table and a crochet square blanket that was hanging over the back of the chair. Meanwhile, Scorpius had a hand over his mouth, letting out silent squeaks of desperately muffled laughter.  
  
"Albus!" he sputtered. "No girl has ever dressed like that."  
  
"I'm not a girl," Albus reassured, adjusting his doily. "I AM Puddifoots. It’s absorbed me, quick, help!"  
  
"Look, you've cheered me up okay? Take it off," Scorpius said with huffy laughter that made Albus grin from ear to ear.  
  
"I don't know, I quite like it."  
  
"Albus..."  
  
The two of them were suddenly interrupted by two very small cherubs, who appeared in front of them, carrying a large tray laden with scones, sandwiches and tea. Throwing a plume of rose petals in the air, they vanished in a puff of macaroon scented pink smoke that made Albus cough.  
  
"What is this?" he choked, losing his knitted shawl in the process.  
  
"Oh for the love of Dumbledore!" Scorpius exclaimed. "I owled ahead and asked for the 'Lovey Dovey Deluxe' package. I think this is it! Merlin, this is mortifying."  
  
"It really is," Albus sighed, removing the doily and flower from his thick, black hair. "I can't believe you were going to inflict this on Rose. All the scones are shaped like little hearts."  
  
"I got a bit carried away when she asked me. I sort of booked it all without thinking."  
  
"You have too much money," Albus sighed, tucking into a scone. He had to whip his hand quickly up into the air, to stop the scone being batted out of it, by an extremely worried Scorpius.  
  
"That's for Rose," he warned, "when she gets here..."  
  
Albus stared blankly at him for a second, before taking another large bite out of the scone. He kept stone cold eye contact with Scorpius all the way through, much to his disdain.  
  
"Oh you are in big trouble Albus," he seethed, as Albus continued to eat.  
  
"Mmmmmm," he hummed loudly, "this is SO nice."  
  
"What happened to, 'I'll just wait here with you Scorpius’?" he asked in a bad impression of Albus’ voice. “’Its cold outside Scorpius’, you said.”  
  
"Hungry," Albus mumbled through a mouthful of scone. "It is nearly lunch time."  
  
"Why? What time is it?" Scorpius said with a worried look.  
  
"It's ten minutes to one," Albus said, as he finished his mouthful. Putting the scone down, he quietly poured Scorpius a cup of tea. Scorpius however, went quiet. He didn't even make a fuss when Albus dished a scone and two small sandwiches onto his plate. After a minute of silence he went to open his mouth, but Albus beat him to it.  
  
"You're too good for her," he said softly.  
  
"That’s nice of you Albus. It’s wrong, but still, thanks," Scorpius mumbled, picking up a scone and shoving it in his face. He closed his eyes, his expression changing to one of pure joy. "Oh these ARE nice!" he said slightly too loudly, making Albus laugh.  
  
  
***  
  
Twenty minutes of idle chatter and bad jokes passed before another cherub appeared in front of them to top off the teapot and sing a little ditty about "young love", before promptly vanishing in a peach scented mist.  
  
"Well that was horrifying for all involved," Albus deadpanned.  
  
Scorpius got a fit of the giggles, causing a student and her mother at the next table to shoot them violent glares. Refilling his tea cup, Scorpius warmed his hands on it and looked out of the window.  
  
“It’s not like her to be late,” Scorpius sighed.  
  
Albus raised one eyebrow. “Scorp, mate, you've never spend time with her. How do you know what she’s like?”  
  
“Alright Albus, rub it in why don’t you!” Scorpius snapped defensively, while Albus simply grinned at him. "What if she’s in danger?" he said calmly before his eyes shot to Albus with alarm. “What if she got hurt on the way in?”  
  
"It is a pretty nasty blizzard out there,” Albus said his eyes widening. “I’ll go and get the coats. I don’t know how much more of this flouncy cherub stuff I can take anyway.”    
  
It took Albus five minutes to barter with the blue haired witch, to get the coats back.  She was insistent that the cherubs bring them over. After entertaining the thought of a cherub singing him some kind of farewell song, Albus quickly lied and said he had a stomach bug. The blue haired witch practically threw the coats at him after that.  
  
Wandering back over to the table Albus found Scorpius in the same position he’d been in when he left. Looking out of the window, into the snow.  
  
“Right then Malfoy,” Albus said cheerily, holding out his coat. “Lets go and find out if my cousin is still alive… Sorry, that was poor taste. I’m genuinely starting to worry now, if I’m honest.”  
  
“Don’t,” Scorpius said weakly.  
  
When he didn’t accept his coat, Albus looked out of the window. Out in the snow, in broad daylight, were a gaggle of Gryffindors. Albus’ brother was one of them. Rose’s horrible friend, Ruby Smith-Pipkins, was giggling with a big, troll-like boy and two other Gryffindor girls. Troll boy was miming the opening of a letter and crying whilst the girls all screamed with laughter. They all seemed to be having a whale of a time. Albus could hear their shouts of "Rose I love you!" through the window and that’s when it clicked.  
  
“If you haven’t gathered yet,” Scorpius sighed, “it was a prank. Rose isn’t coming. They didn’t think I fell for it when they came by at twelve because I was with you, but they’ve just spotted me alone at the window with teary eyes and have been making rude gestures for a good two minutes.”  
  
“Okay,” Albus said, with a fire blazing in his stomach. “Get your coat on,” and dropped Scorpius’ coat on his lap.  
  
“I’m not going out there,” Scorpius said, his voice breaking slightly.  
  
“I am.” Albus said, turning on his heel and swiftly brushing past the blue haired witch with such ferocity that she jumped out of his way.  
  
Behind him, Albus could hear vague footsteps on the stairs, but he wasn’t focused on anything other than hexing the Gryffindors into next week. Pulling his coat on, he pulled out his wand and stepped out into the snow.  
  
“Oh there’s your weird brother, James. Hello, mate! Did Voldy Jr. enjoy his imaginary date with Rose? He looked a bit weepy, did you have to come and give him a hug?” said the troll looking boy, making the girls all burst out laughing again.  
  
Albus strode straight up to him with his wand extended, causing James to dart out at him.  
  
“Al, calm down, it was just a prank,” James said to Albus with false concern, throwing a cheeky grin at Troll boy when he thought he wasn’t looking. Albus was furious.  
  
“Shut it James!” Albus hissed. “I really don’t have time for any of your s—“ Albus was ready to hex them all, whilst blurting out every swear word he knew, when suddenly a long, gangly arm draped over his shoulder.  
  
“Thanks for taking me for tea at Puddifoots, Albus, just like we do every Hogsmeade trip at 12pm,” Scorpius said loudly next to him.  
  
Albus turned to look and saw his eyes were still slightly red from crying, but this time a large smile was plastered across his pale face. His voice was far louder than usual and slightly odd sounding, but he seemed to pass it off as casual to the Gryffindors, who were now all looking thoroughly bemused.  
  
“Funny tradition you see, but purely ironic. We got stuck there once in a blizzard and now we make a bit of a thing of it,” he mentioned, winking at Ruby Smith-Pipkins, who gave him a bemused smile.  
  
Scorpius then looked between Albus and James and made a meal of tutting and looking at Troll boy with a cheeky expression. “Are these two arguing AGAIN? Gosh it never ends, does it? Brothers, eh? Am I right? Well come on Albus, we’d better get to The Three Broomsticks! The flowers in Puddifoots made my eyes run and I could do with a nice butterbeer if you know what I mean,” he nudged James, who just frowned in return and began looking at Albus for some kind of explanation.  
  
Albus merely beamed as widely as Scorpius did.  
  
“See you in The Great Hall at dinnertime everyone!” Scorpius cheered and with that, Albus was steered right around the Gryffindors and towards The Three Broomsticks without a second look.  
  
As he passed the rabble of thoroughly lost Gryffindors, he heard mutterings of “didn’t work” and “what’s he playing at?” Scorpius still had his arm over Albus’ shoulder and was walking so quickly that Albus was breaking out into a small run to keep up.  
  
“That—“ whispered Albus, who subtly looped his arm around Scorpius’ waist and gave him a squeeze as they were walking “—was the coolest thing I have ever seen anyone do, ever.”  
  
Scorpius went a violent shade of red and quickly detached his arm from Albus’ shoulder. Albus returned the favour, removing his arm from Scorpius’ waist.  
  
“This is an odd thing to say; but my dad told me, when he used to bully your dad, he wanted a reaction and if he didn’t get a reaction, it made him angry. I thought I'd give it a go for once... I'm not going to lie, it felt brilliant. I mean, I am upset, but if they don’t see me react they can’t do anything about it I suppose… well not yet anyway, I’m sure they’re going to put something horrible in my dinner now.”  
  
“If they do, then can I hex them?”  
  
“You’re very hex happy today,” said Scorpius with a smile.  
  
“I’m hex happy every day,” Albus sighed. “Are we actually going to The Three Broomsticks?”  
  
“Yes actually," Scorpius said. "I’d like to continue, uh…”  
  
“The date?” Albus teased. This earnt him an elbow in the ribs. “Ouch. Kidding!”  
   
***  
  
They found themselves a small booth upstairs in the corner of the pub, next to a fireplace, which blocked them from the view of the other students. Albus went to get butterbeers and came back to find Scorpius still looking glum, with his chin resting on his hands. Pushing a butterbeer towards him, he sat opposite Scorpius and mimicked his position. Chin in hands, pout on his face.  
  
“Very funny,” Scorpius said wryly.  
  
“Thanks, I do other impressions too,” Albus said with a soft smile.  
  
“Like what?” Scorpius asked.  
  
Albus cleared his throat, took off his coat and wrapped his scarf around his mouth, like a crude beard.  
  
“Ooo ello, I’m ‘agrid,” he said in a terrible Cornish accent. “Oi gerroff me pumpkins yew bloody ‘orrible slugs!”  
  
“That’s so awful,” Scorpius tried to say in a serious voice. His mouth was curving into a smile with each word.  
  
“You’re smiling though, so it worked.”  
  
“To be honest, I do a VERY good impression of Professor McGonagall,” Scorpius said beaming.  
  
“Oh go on then, but I don’t know if you can top my performance,” Albus teased.  
  
Scorpius sat upright and held his nose in the air, suddenly looking the spitting image of his father.  
  
“James Potter--” he said in a fairly decent Scottish accent, “—you must spin around three times and recite the entirety of 'Hogwarts a History' or its fifty million points from Gryffindor!” Albus laughed and gave him a small applause. It was genuinely a very good impression.  
  
“If only,” Albus sighed wistfully. “You’re good at that though.”  
  
“I learnt it off my dad,” Scorpius said proudly. Albus choked on his drink at the mental image, while Scorpius sipped at his butterbeer with a sly look on his face.  
   
  
***  
  
Half an hour passed and Scorpius was in much higher spirits. That was, until Rose Granger-Weasley entered the pub, with two of her quidditch team members and headed straight up the stairs past where they were sitting. She didn’t notice them, but Albus watched Scorpius’ eyes flick to her, as she passed to a table further back, before focusing on his mug again. Albus’ heart sank slightly, although he really shouldn’t have expected any less.    
  
“I’m sorry,” Albus said softly. Scorpius stayed quiet. “You really do like her, don’t you? I saw how upset you were.”  
  
“Yeah,” he mumbled. "She's great and smart and..." he pondered this for a few seconds before shaking his head. “No, actually… I’m sorry to get heavy on you Albus, but to be honest, it upset me so badly because I just can’t believe I’m still being tormented like this. Even after all we did in fourth year. We're half way through our sixth year now and I'm still getting 'ooh are you Moldy Voldy's son? Where's your time-turner Scorp?'. It’d break Mum's heart if she knew.”  
  
The honesty of Scorpius’ answer took Albus by surprise, he suddenly sat up with alarm and watched as Scorpius looked into the depths of his butterbeer mug. Scorpius didn’t talk about his mother very often. Albus knew this wasn’t something to be taken lightly. Scorpius stayed silent for a moment and Albus went to speak, but he was interrupted.  
  
“Sorry, I shouldn’t crack out the M word,” Scorpius stammered with an awkward laugh that didn’t fit. “It’s just… I’m not strong enough to stand up to them, no matter how hard I try. It just gets me that Dad would be upset and he’d be upset because Mum would be upset and—“  
  
“Not strong enough?” Albus exclaimed, incensed by the thought. “You’re the bravest, strongest most intelligent person I know and you’ve stood up to far worse than them. The Scorpius I saw laughing in the face of those Gryffindors today was definitely not the nervous boy I met on the train. You outsmarted the daughter of Voldemort when you were 14 years old and single handedly put right a timeline full of death eaters, for Merlin’s sake! You, Scorpius Malfoy, are brilliant,” Albus said with conviction, as Scorpius stared at him. “And your mum would be immensely proud of you.” Softly reaching out and putting a hand on Scorpius’ arm, he found Scorpius gave him a watery smile in return.  
  
“Thanks, Albus,” he said. “Gosh, that’s actually really nice.”  
  
“Its alright,” Albus shrugged returning to his butterbeer.  
  
“No, honestly. That’s so… kind.”  
  
“Okay, don’t milk it,” Albus said, retreating back into his seat. “I’m only telling the truth. Honestly, seeing what they’d done to you, made me so angry, I was ready to get extra detention on top of our existing perma-detention.”  
  
“I wouldn’t have appreciated that.”  
  
“No, so it’s a good thing you stopped me,” Albus added with a cheeky grin. Scorpius mirrored his expression.  
  
“Sorry to be in this strange mood all of a sudden. I've got a lot going on in the 'ol noggin today it seems," he shrugged. "This has actually turned out to be a very good day. Despite…” Scorpius waved his hand vaguely in the air, gesturing at the day’s events as though they were sat at the bar.  
  
“Still, shame you had to have a date with me instead of Rose though,” Albus added cheekily, attempting to spark some kind of witty banter between the two of them.  
  
Unusually, it fell flat. Scorpius shifted uncomfortably in his seat and an awkward silence fell between them.  
  
“It was a joke. Because you were so excited to see her…and…stuff,” Albus added, finally taking his hand off Scorpius’ arm and taking a large swig of butterbeer. His palm was all sweaty and suddenly the pub felt far too warm.  
  
“I um… not really, actually,” Scorpius muttered, suddenly running a hand through his white blonde hair, making it stick up all over the place. Twiddling his thumbs, he looked awkwardly down at the battered table in front of them. Albus blinked at him several times to make sure it was still Scorpius Malfoy who sat in front of him. The same Scorpius Malfoy who harped on about Rose and awkwardly flirted with her every time she was within five meters of them. Scorpius refrained from returning eye contact.  
  
“No?”  
  
“No,” Scorpius went quiet for a moment before pulling his grey eyes up slowly to meet Albus’. “I’m… actually sort of relieved it wasn’t real, to be honest,” he admitted, as though it hurt.  
  
Albus shook his head. It didn't make sense.  
  
“After all that? Scorpius you wail on about how much you like her—“  
  
“I play it up a bit,” he interrupted.  
  
“A bit? You never shut up about her it’s almost like--”  
  
“I’m compensating for something,” finished Scorpius with a deadly serious expression.  
  
Albus meant to make another dig at Scorpius being in ‘love’ with her, but Scorpius didn’t look like he was in a joking mood anymore. The atmosphere had changed significantly and Albus couldn't help but feel they were suddenly plotting uncharted territory.  
  
“It’s difficult,” he mumbled, wringing his hands.  
  
Albus went still as he watched his friend desperately clamber for words, looking up at the ceiling and then around at the other tables  
  
“Merlin alive, this is heavy conversation today, isn’t it? It's just, the events of today have stirred up a lot of stuff and you being here it's... well...” stuttered Scorpius with a wheezy, awkward laugh. “All aboard the heavy train, next stop: confessions I didn’t think I’d be making in the back of a dodgy pub.”  
  
“You don’t have to tell m—“  
  
“Do you ever do something just because it makes logical sense? Rather than going with your gut?” Scorpius asked innocently.  
  
Albus smirked, sipping his butterbeer.  
  
“No, not really…ever,” he said with a foamy smile. “I don’t know if we’ve met. Hello, I’m Albus Potter.”  
  
“See I love that…. Like that, I mean. All dry wit and...” Scorpius trailed off. “My father said my mother was clever and kind and loved by all the people she met. She smelt lovely and I could tell that every minute dad spent with her meant the world to him. I want that so badly and Rose is the only girl I know that ticks all those boxes,” he said softly, resting an elbow on the table and toying with the rim of his butterbeer mug. “No… Rose is the only girl I know who should, in theory, tick all of those boxes,” he corrected.  
  
“So you're saying you tried to base a crush on what works logically?” Albus probed.  
  
Scorpius stayed with his eyes fixed on the mug.  
  
“I thought if I tried hard enough to convince myself then it would happen.”  
  
“What would happen?” asked Albus.  
  
“I’d love her, obviously,” Scorpius sighed. “I don’t really. She’s nice—“  
  
“Not that nice,” added Albus, casting his mind back to the amount of times his cousin had dismissed them in favour of her reputation.  
  
“—But I don’t love her… I don’t even really fancy her,” Scorpius mumbled, finishing his sentence.  
  
Albus couldn't believe what he was hearing. Compared to Scorpius' over the top monoluge about Rose a few hours prior, Albus felt like he was talking to a different person. It was a good different however. A brutal honesty that he'd rarely seen from Scorpius before.  
  
“I shouldn’t be thinking like a pureblood, because those days are behind the Malfoy family," Scorpius continued, "but… but even though it’s a bad family name to have, I loved my mum and I love my dad. I’m proud to be part of the Malfoy family, even if I shouldn’t be…” Scorpius traced the grain of the wood in the mahogany table with his finger, trying desperately not to look at Albus. “If I don’t marry a girl, the Malfoy line will die with me and my parents terrible reputation will be the only thing left… forever and… and…”  
  
“Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy!" Albus exclaimed, astonished. "You are 17 years old! Why in the world are you worrying about marriage and children and family names right now?” he finished with a laugh, but Scorpius shook his head, his eyes watering.  
  
“No, Albus. You’re not listening,” he sniffled. Albus stopped smiling immediately and ran over in his head what Scorpius had just said. Suddenly, it clicked.  
  
“Rose is the only girl that ticks those boxes… If you don’t marry a girl,” he repeated softly. “Wait a minute. You mean you don’t want… to marry a girl, do you?”  
  
“I don’t even want to date one,” Scorpius choked, laughing and crying at the same time.  
  
A wave of emotions suddenly hit Albus. He was terrified and excited and nervous and suddenly extremely cold and hot all at once. Adrenaline surged through him and before he knew it he was speaking.  
  
“You’re like me!” He blurted out without thinking. “I can’t… I don’t... they’re not my thing either.”  
  
Scorpius’ eyes widened in shock and he nearly jumped out of his seat with excitement.  
  
“Gosh!” he said, slightly too loud, before sitting down properly in his seat and looking at Albus with delight. “Okay. Alright, so that’s a thing we both have in common,” he stammered, still sniffling.  
  
“We do,” Albus said, as though he were reassuring himself more than anything.  
“So your crush on Rose is--”  
  
“Null and void. She was perfect in theory, but my heart isn’t in it. Your feelings for Delphi were…”  
  
“Only there because she payed attention to me. I was 14, it seemed flattering at the time,” Albus answered with excitement. “And I thought if you had your heart set on Rose, then, I um…” Albus had suddenly talked himself into a corner.  
  
Scorpius waited patiently to hear what the next few words were, but it was Albus’ turn to babble.  
  
“Well you liked Rose… and probably have a crush on other people too if you don’t like her. Its normal isn’t it? A normal teenage thing! So yeah, I wanted to be like you. That’s it. If you had a crush on a girl, I wanted one too.”  
  
The two of them awkwardly squirmed in their seats as they teetered on the brink of addressing a subject neither of them had ever thought they’d need to address.  
  
It was Scorpius who finally broke the silence. “I don’t have a crush on any other people.”  
  
“Oh,” Albus said softly.  
  
He felt his heart sink, as though it’d just fallen into the pit of his stomach. He didn’t like anyone other than his fake love for Rose and that was fine. It was all fine.  
  
“Yeah, no, me too,” Albus lied.  
  
“I mean… I mean other people, there aren’t any other people,” Scorpius kept saying.  
  
"I get it Scorp," Albus stated in return, sounding more irritable than he'd intended.  
  
Scorpius winced for a second before taking a deep breath.  
  
"I mean anyone otherthanperhapsyoumaybe," he said, so quietly and so rapidly, Albus wasn't sure if he'd imagined it.  
  
Everything in Albus' brain screamed at him to tell Scorpius how he felt. How much he liked him. How amazing it was to hear he liked him back. Instead all words failed him and Scorpius stared with an expression which was slowly becoming more hurt by the second. Not entirely sure what he was doing, Albus carefully reached out a hand and laced it between Scorpius’ fingers on the opposite side of the table, so their palms were facing one another.  
  
“Oh. Hello,” Scorpius sputtered. “That’s new. Hands. A hand thing.”  
  
Despite his shock however, he made no move to pull his hand away. He watched frozen for a moment, before slowly relaxing and pressing his hand closer into Albus’.  
  
“This is odd isn’t it,” Scorpius said messily.  
  
Albus was full of nervous energy and found himself giggling at Scorpius’ play-by-play commentary of the innocent gesture.  
  
"It is a bit odd, yeah,” he said with a smile.  
  
“But nice.”  
  
“Yeah, also nice,” Albus soothed, as he traced patterns on the palm of Scorpius’ hand with his thumb.  
  
“Do we hold hands?” asked Scorpius.  
  
“Only if you want to.”  
  
“I’m going to say …yes? Yes, I want to.”  
  
“Okay,” said Albus grinning. “Then we hold hands now.”  
  
They did so for about a minute, whilst Scorpius stared at Albus’ hand and turned a faint shade of pink.  
  
“This really isn’t how I expected...”  
  
“What? Your date to go?” asked Albus.  
  
“Our date,” Scorpius said boldly, before suddenly regretting every single word. “That was embarrassing, I’m so—“  
  
“Our date,” Albus said encouragingly.  
  
Scorpius let out a nervous laugh. "I was actually talking about this holding hands thing.”  
  
“Oh yeah?”  
  
“Yeah, it’s… a lot more…” he sighed. “You’re doing a thumb thing.”  
  
“Sorry about that.”  
  
“Don’t! Be!” squeaked Scorpius, his voice breaking all over the place. “I mean, don’t be. It’s really… really nice.” He sighed over Albus’ laugher.  
  
"You know despite this feeling strange and weird and new… I feel like this is actually makes sense. We've been closer and closer over the yea—“  
  
Albus was ready to pour his heart out, when all of a sudden Scorpius blurted out:  
“Do you think we should kiss?”  
  
Albus stared at him with wide eyes, blinking, as Scorpius tore his hand away quickly and put his hands in his hair, as though he’d just been bitten by a dragon.  
  
“OR NOT!” he shouted. “God, that was not the right time or place! One minute it was in my head and the next thing I knew I’d said it. Those words. Out loud. I meant it only if you WANT, I mean there’s no way we HAVE to, there’s no LAW.”  
  
Albus sat with his mouth open slightly as Scorpius talked himself into a hole. It would have been funny if Albus’ brain hadn’t short circuited at the idea of kissing his best friend. He’d just about found enough brain power to reply, when Scorpius panicked.  
  
“No no no, don’t say anything, I can tell you HATE the idea, don’t you? You know what, I think it’s this butterbeer! I can’t believe they sell it to people under 18! Dad will hear about this, it’s made me momentarily loopy. The beer I mean, not the…kiss… thing. Why don’t we just put this down as one of those silly Scorpius moments and move right along. What do you think they’re serving for dinner in the great hall? I hope its rhubarb crumble. Or treacle tart. I am raaaaather partial to—“  
  
And just like that, they were kissing.  
  
Whilst Scorpius was babbling, Albus had scooted himself around to Scorpius’ side of the booth and as soon as he’d reached the word ‘partial’ Albus had taken Scorpius’ face gently in both hands and cut him off with a kiss. It was awkward and messy and bumbling. Scorpius just sort of sat there for a second before slowly melting into the kiss and pressing so hard against Albus, he had to stick a hand out behind him to steady himself against the weight of his gangly blonde friend. Albus felt a hand thread its way into his wild hair and suddenly he was in heaven. Scorpius tasted of butterbeer and tea and boy, which was odd, but also absolutely everything Albus didn't know he was missing. It was a few more seconds before he realised exactly where the hell they were and quickly broke off the kiss. Looking at Scorpius, he was surprised to find his best friend bright red in the face, with wild hair and a genuine smile.  
  
"That was brilliant,” he said breathily. “Can we do it again?”  
  
“No,” Albus laughed, resting his forehead on Scorpius’ shoulder. “We’re in public.”  
  
“Wowee,” Scorpius whispered.  
  
Albus snorted and sat back upright. He rested his chin on his hand and watched as Scorpius stared delightedly into space.  
  
“Did you just say ‘Wowee’? That’s appalling,” Albus teased. Scorpius wasn't listening.  
  
“Golly--”  
  
“Don’t”  
  
“--Goshers”  
  
“You’re the worst,” Albus laughed. He felt Scorpius tug at his arm and was surprised to find that he was being pulled into a hug. “Oh and you’re hugging me,” Albus added, as though it were a total injustice. “After you’ve said the most dorky thing any wizard has ever said.”  
  
“Mock me all you want Albus. You just kissed me, which means you liiiike me,” Scorpius teased.  
  
“Will you shut up?” Albus huffed, smiling.  
  
“But you do like me? Don’t you? Just to confirm that’s what’s happening,” he asked in a small voice.  
  
Albus let out a breathy laugh.  
  
“Scorpius I’ve always liked you. But yeah… That’s what’s occurring now I think. This…thing, is definitely…going on.”  
  
"So this is actually, properly, a date!” Scorpius squeaked.  
  
“No. It’s a job interview,” Albus quipped sarcastically.  
  
“For the position of Boyfriend?” Scorpius asked. “Because technically, that’s what a date is.”  
  
“You want me to be your boyfriend?” Albus asked, leaning back from the hug and eyeing Scorpius with amusement. Scorpius looked like he was ready for the ground to swallow him.  
  
“I didn’t think that sentence through,” he stammered. Albus frowned, but Scorpius quickly exclaimed, “Yes!… A bit.”  
  
“You want me to be your boyfriend… a bit?”  
  
“Maybe.”  
  
“You might need to be more specific, Scorp.”  
  
“Yes.” He said quickly. “Yes, I’d… I’d like to be your boyfriend…maybe… What will dad say?” he sputtered, as Albus shook his head in amusement. “Oh gosh, we’re doing all of this in the wrong order. We haven’t finished the first date yet… I’ve already met your parents, which is good, but only as a friend, so do I have to do it again differently? We live in the same room, is this an entirely good idea?--” Albus cut him off by pressing a chaste kiss to his lips. Scorpius stopped panicking and looked down at Albus with stars in his eyes. “This is an entirely good idea,” he whispered making Albus roar with laughter.  
  
“There’s no right order to do things in. Stop flapping,” he sighed, still intermittently giggling. Scorpius shrugged and buried his face into Albus’ wild hair.  
  
“Books say--“  
  
“Oh, date a book then!” Albus snapped teasingly, causing the two of them to crack up with laughter fueled by nervous excitement and leftover adrenaline. Dislocating from his boyfriend, Albus shuffled back around to his side of the booth. Rummaging in his coat, he grabbed a handful of coins and stood up.  
  
"And you’re off to?” Scorpius asked, beaming up at Albus. Albus beamed back.  
  
“Get another butterbeer for us both. We have a first date to finish.”  
  
“One of many I hope,” Scorpius added blushing.  
  
“Butterbeers or dates?"  
  
"Both."  
  
"If you're lucky,” Albus teased “I'll eventually run out of money, but we live together so we’ll be hard pressed to avoid the date bit.”  
  
“What a terrible shame,” Scorpius added resting his chin on his hands and staring at Albus dreamily.  
  
“Awful,” said Albus coyly and with that, he turned on his heel and strode to the bar with the soppiest grin known to wizardkind, plastered on his face.

**Author's Note:**

> God this has a lot of waffling in it my apologies! I like to watch Scorpius and Albus have fun so I tend to get really sidetracked. The impressions bit has absolutely no relevance at all other than to make me giggle ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 
> 
> If you liked what you read then please come and say hello! My blog is cursedchildscorpius.tumblr.com and it'd mean the world to hear what you thought!
> 
> Have a fab day <3


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